Apple may be offering 17″ iMac for educational institutions (Updated)

A short quip in an online newsletter for education suggests Apple bringing …

The March edition of Apple's "eNews for Education" newsletter naturally pimps the company's newest desktop hardware, including the new iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro lines. The scant information Apple includes suggests the company offers a 17" iMac model for just $899. Except, Apple hasn't offered a 17" iMac since the move from the white polycarbonate enclosures to aluminum and black polycarbonate enclosures two years ago.

Needless to say, the news that the company is offering a 17" model is quite surprising. A 17" model wasn't announced with the new updates earlier this month, and it isn't available from Apple's standard online educational store. Given the state of the economy, which has caused many schools to face budget shortfalls, Apple may be offering the 17" model as a special low-cost option for institutional purchase only. However, none of our sources could confirm the availability of the model anywhere in Apple's catalog.

When Apple introduced the first flat panel-based iMacs in January 2002, the company offered the 17" CRT-based eMac as an institution-only product. Due to customer demand, Apple later offered the eMac for retail an education purchase. If this 17" iMac does indeed exist, it's possible Apple may eventually offer this model to the general public if a significant demand exists.

UPDATE: We were able to track down the 17" model, which requires some careful clicking to get to. First, you must be purchasing for a K-12 or higher ed institution. If you aren't an authorized purchase agent for your institution, which requires a password, you'll have to use the "Create Quote" option. When the store loads, click on the iMacs—even though it says, "Starting at $1149."

The resulting options show the new aluminum models with 20" and 24" screens. However, on the lower-right corner you'll see a link for a "17-inch iMac with 1.83GHz processor available. Just $899.00." You can see below that the 17" model is still clad in the older-style white polycarbonate casing. As mentioned in the comments, it appears that Apple has continued to offer this model since discontinuing it for the general public in late 2007.

Though the pricing is attractive, I'm not sure it represents a great value in the current market. The combination of a 1.83GHz processor, max 2GB DDR2 RAM, combo optical drive (DVD-ROM + CD-R/W), and Intel integrated graphics is pretty underwhelming. Given many schools' 3-year or longer equipment cycles, those buying this cheaper iMac would end up with what is essentially 5-year old equipment by the time its reached the upgrade cycle. And without the NVIDIA 9400M graphics, this model would see little benefit from a Snow Leopard upgrade.

Likewise, with the old design and underwhelming hardware, I also wouldn't expect Apple to ever offer this to the general public.

21 Reader Comments

They never stopped offering a 17-inch model. I don't why this is an article since obviously you don't know anything about the subject. If you go to apple.com and click on "Education Store" then click on Purchase for institution and choose a school. Then you will find the 17-inch iMac.

Originally posted by Cris T:They never stopped offering a 17-inch model. I don't why this is an article since obviously you don't know anything about the subject. If you go to apple.com and click on "Education Store" then click on Purchase for institution and choose a school. Then you will find the 17-inch iMac.

Actually, I asked to edu sources about it and they weren't aware of the 17" model. The institutional stores require a password to access; however, I was able to go in through to "create a quote for my institution." That allowed to find a small link at the bottom of the list of iMacs mentioning the $899 17" option. However, at the front of the store it just says "New iMacs, starting at $1149."

But, the model specific link you gave resulted in a 404.

FWIW, Apple has in fact not offered a 17" iMac model to the general public nor those making personal edu purchases since late 2007.

If we're going to nitpick, one might as well note that the eMac featured a 17" CRT display. But, given the title of the article, I don't think it's unfair for someone to point out that the 17" iMac has been available for institutional buyers for some time.

The issue I have is that the snark seems a little uncalled for. He could have sent the information to editors@arstechnica.com and we could have (and I did) update. As the article stated, I checked with sources at educational institutions who were unaware of the 17" model as well.

In fact, I asked to edu sources about it and they weren't aware of the 17" model. The institutional stores require a password to access; however, I was able to go in through to "create a quote for my institution." That allowed to find a small link at the bottom of the list of iMacs mentioning the $899 17" option. However, at the front of the store it just says "New iMacs, starting at $1149."

And, the model specific link you gave resulted in a 404.

Apple in fact has not offered a 17" iMac model to the general public nor those making personal edu purchases since late 2007.

While Chris T was slightly forward with how he said it, he was in fact correct. Institutions have been able to buy the white 17" iMac since the new aluminum ones were introduced. I also agree with him that it is a little disappointing to even see this article on here. I would check with Apple if you are unsure about such things before writing an article. I makes you seem slightly incompetent and like you are just trying to create traffic by posting something with Apple in the headline.

I also agree with him that it is a little disappointing to even see this article on here. I would check with Apple if you are unsure about such things before writing an article. I makes you seem slightly incompetent and like you are just trying to create traffic by posting something with Apple in the headline.

I'm not disagreeing with Cris T on the point that Apple has continued to offer at 17" model for institutions only. I'm disagreeing that it was common knowledge that Apple was still offering it.

I have worked for school IT departments at Purdue and at UChicago, and neither I nor my colleagues were aware of the 17" option. Except for this one sentence in the latest eNews update, Apple did not go out of its way to call attention to it. And it still doesn't now, as you can see in my update.

The reason I didn't check with Apple is because it's Sunday; getting them to respond to requests for information even on a weekday between 9–5 PT is a game of luck at best. So I checked with contacts that still work in edu IT.

We do our best to make sure we have accurate information—no one at Ars was aware of the ongoing availability of the 17" model for institutions. If we find that information is inaccurate, as we did today, we update our posts to correct the information.

That newsletter is worded in a misleading way - the new iMac lineup (clad in aluminium) doesn't include a 17" version. The 17" is still available for purchase in edu institution situations, but it's an old model and not part of the "new" lineup.

"Thanks for updating the article. Most people don't know about it because Apple hasn't updated it and for the specs the price is NOT worth it. You are better off getting a refurbished model cheaper," Cris T.

You are not better off getting a refurbished model if you are buying them by the dozen as an institution would; however, I do agree that the deal sucks compared to the rates say Maine is getting for their leased MacBooks.

Originally posted by DarkOwl:That newsletter is worded in a misleading way - the new iMac lineup (clad in aluminium) doesn't include a 17" version. The 17" is still available for purchase in edu institution situations, but it's an old model and not part of the "new" lineup.

Agreed, hence the confusion the resulted in the original post.

I assumed Apple was making a 17" aluminum model with 9400M-based graphics. That would be a good deal for edu.

In determining the value of this offer to educational institutions, the technical specifications are almost completely irrelevant. The average student won't stretch the capabilities of even older models. These aren't "dorm" machines, but rather publicly available terminals. Things like manageability, the cost of maintenance and training outweigh actual specs by a large margin. Our compsci department for the most part still runs on P4's and we even have used thinclients for a while (the original sunrays).

Originally posted by stiller:In determining the value of this offer to educational institutions, the technical specifications are almost completely irrelevant. The average student won't stretch the capabilities of even older models. These aren't "dorm" machines, but rather publicly available terminals. Things like manageability, the cost of maintenance and training outweigh actual specs by a large margin. Our compsci department for the most part still runs on P4's and we even have used thinclients for a while (the original sunrays).

I agree with this principle in general, but I think those factors are irrelevant when it comes to this particular machine. It was originally released in 2006, and the 20" that costs $250 more offers far more forward compatibility.

FWIW, the K–12 school I last worked in used iLife and iWork quite a bit, and students will quickly find ways to tax the hardware given the slightest inclination to creativity.

Also, at least in this particular institution, no one has a desktop monitor smaller than 19".

Actually, there's a closeout sale on the lowest spec machines for K-12 that had them going for $699 if you bought 10 or more. They've had occasional sales on them since the introduction of the 20" iMac.

The $250 in price difference is significant when you are buying machines in the hundreds, though.

It seems like at that level a better price could be negotiated. But I understand for some institutions it may mean the difference between buying less or no equipment. I don't mean to discount schools in that situation.

But, I still think the newer hardware represents the better value, especially when considering it could have a 5-year or longer use cycle. More and more software that is released is often targeting 10.5 or higher, and sometimes even going Intel-only.

quote:

This particular institution still has a few thousand 15" iMac G3s in service.

That's gotta smart. While the 15" CRT iMacs were great machines, I'd be concerned with software limitations (i.e. modern browsers, etc). Though at the K–12 where I worked, some teachers kept older iMacs around running OS 9 to run older edu software/games that were never updated for OS X, mainly for K–3 or 4.

But, I still think the newer hardware represents the better value, especially when considering it could have a 5-year or longer use cycle. [/quote/

Considering that the limitations on the end-of-life-cycle G3 iMacs is getting replacement parts over usability, again the 17" iMacs should be more than enough for terminal, web browsing, and light word processing and presentation use.

quote:

That's gotta smart.

It's also the reality of the K-12 environment in larger, particularly urban, environments.

{quote] While the 15" CRT iMacs were great machines, I'd be concerned with software limitations (i.e. modern browsers, etc).

I would imagine that shops using G3 iMacs probably tested the machines for usability for their needs.

It seems like you're just pushing the idea that the 20" iMac is the sweet spot for everyone, and those that are saying that it's not THEIR sweet spot, you're attempting to persuade them. Not sure what your motivation is for that, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.